MEDIEVAL LOVE POETRY

A beautiful gift book which explains the medieval fascination with the quest and its ideals of beauty and chivalry. The Troubadour, Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Games of Love, The Chatelaine of Vergi, and The Romance of the Rose are the chapters expressing love in this beautiful publication. This selection of medieval love poetry has two aims - to show the charming and delightful phrases inscribed on jewellery, and explain why it was worn, ranging from 'I am yours forever' in French on the Fishpool brooch on page 77 to the very complex as on a gold ring set with sapphires from late 14th century France. The essence of courtly love is that a male lover serves his chosen Lady, rather than seeking to dominate her. The second purpose of the collection is to illustrate the romances themselves with images showing individual scenes of a narrative sequence and brief summaries of the stories. A selection of extracts translated from the original texts of poems and chansons with jewel-like words of love (posies) are placed between the longer stories, just as medieval jewellers arranged their design elements. Images of jewellery and other inscribed mementoes include exquisite objects of gold, ivory, enamel, ceramic, woodwork and leather from the collections of the British Museum as well as illuminated manuscripts. 96 pages, 45 colour illus.